Peter Cooper Plaque

Peter Cooper (1781-1883) lived on this site for part of his childhood. The memorial plaque that is set into the wall of the bank building marks the site of his father’s home. Peter personally fashioned the “Tom Thumb” as the first locomotive to be used successfully as an American railroad (1830). He later sponsored the trans-Atlantic telegraph, the undersea wire cable connection between the U.S. and Europe. He built Cooper Union to provide free education for the working classes and led in securing the public school system in New York City.